FCI rapped for unauthorised lifting of paddy

NEW DELHI: Flaying FCI for unauthorised lifting of paddy stock due to poor control, the Comptroller and Auditor General has said that during 1994-95 this had resulted in loss of Rs 72.11 crore.

"Unauthorised lifting of paddy stored in the millers' premises by millers resulted in loss of Rs 72.11 crore due to lack of proper control by the Corporation", the CAG said in its latest report on PSUs.

It said due to space crunch in Punjab region during 1994-95, it was decided by the then Managing Director of the FCI to store paddy in rice millers' premises also, wherever exigencies of kharif operations warranted.

During the crop year, FCI procured 27.50 lakh MT of paddy in Punjab and storage cum milling contracts for 17.84 lakh MT were entered with the millers.

Against this contracted quantity 15.11 lakh MT paddy was stored in the premises of different millers in Punjab under storage cum milling contract, the CAG report said.

Audit of storage cum milling contracts showed that the paddy in the millers' premises had been left to the mercy of millers because of the absence of proper controls like non- conducting of physical verificaton of stocks, it said adding there was lack of effective procedural arrangements by FCI officers to control lifting of paddy by millers.

Absence of proper control resulted in unauthorised lifting of 2.83 lakh mt (2.46 lakh mt treated as sold plus 0,37 mt remaining unrecovered) of paddy by the millers and FCI was put to a total loss of Rs 72.11 crore, it said.